Cameroonian fruit bats harbor divergent viruses, including rotavirus H, bastroviruses, and picobirnaviruses using an alternative genetic code

Yinda, Claude Kwe; Ghogomu, Stephen Mbigha; Conceição-Neto, Nádia; Beller, Leen; Deboutte, Ward; Vanhulle, Emiel; Maes, Piet; Van Ranst, Marc; Matthijnssens, Jelle

Control and prevention of these emerging infections from bats and other wildlife entails a strategy of rapid pathogen identification, to determine their origin and control further spread to new hosts and new host species. Therefore, continuous surveillance to unravel the viral communities present in bats and other wildlife is of utmost importance to viral zoonosis prevention and control endeavors (Gerald et al. 2009 ). However, little or no data are available from Cameroon. In this study, we collected and analyzed fecal samples from two species of fruit bats (Eidolon helvum and Epomophorus gambianus), from the South West Region of Cameroon using high-throughput sequencing.